Very excited for our +ScienceOnline Climate co-organizer +Jamie Vernon on his new position at Sigma Xi as Director of Science Communication and Editor-in-Chief for American Scientist magazine. Congratulations, Jamie!

The ScienceOnline community is full of people who are passionate and inspired about our mission. We’re grateful for that level of commitment, and we know that it is also shared by the community participants from the #sciosafe discussion session that took place at ScienceOnline Together 2014. The ScienceOnline board received (as an email) an open letter from some of the people who had participated in that discussion (and others who joined their concerns online). We aim to answer the concerns of that letter here as thoroughly as possible, with good will, and within the bounds of what is legally appropriate.

Anton Zuiker will step down from being Chairman of the Board of ScienceOnline effective March 28, 2014. He will remain in a non-voting, advisory capacity as a founder of the organization. We are grateful to Anton for his years of vision, dedication, and sacrificial service to ScienceOnline. Scott Rosenberg will assume the chairman role.

Anton Zuiker had informed the ScienceOnline Board (at the beginning of February 2014) and today publicly (Mar 5, 2014: A Retraction, Stepping Back, and Looking Forward) his need to focus on his family, health and job:

“Several months ago, I concluded that it is time for me to make room for others to lead the organization. Prior to the conference, I informed the board of my plan to step away from ScienceOnline at the end of this month. Effective March 28, 2014, I will be resigning my position as chairman of the ScienceOnline Board of Directors, and transitioning to a new (non-voting) role — details still to be worked out — that will allow me to stay involved in an advisory role, and as a founder and champion of the ScienceOnline story.”

Scott Rosenberg will assume the role of chairman of the board for the next 12 months. The chairmanship role will be rotated annually to help distribute the time commitment since this is a volunteer board and each board member has significant other professional duties.

We're very excited to announce the books we'll be highlighting at ScienceOnline Together 2014. Many thanks to the publishers who provide the books that we'll be making available to attendees for reading and review!